As years pass, more and more college students tend to postpone graduating from college. Students need to find work after graduation, but the wall is too high for them. Likely, this problem is the most worrying of Korean college students' concerns. Increasing employment competition gives a lot of pressure and make students imagine a dark future. Then how should we prepare to find our own job? How should we spend our school life usefully? This journalist interviewed a recruiting expert and professional interview consultant, Kim Sejune for this interview section.

1. There is an increasing rate of NCS base employment, but many students seem to not know about it. Please explain shortly about the NCS employment.

NCS stands for 'National Competency Standards' which is a tool for recruiting, which is replacing our country's old system of recruiting based on the CSAT. There are different standards of hiring processes between corporations, but the NCS is a way that applies to the whole nation. NCS doesn’t focus on qualification, but rather on work experience. If you see the application form, there is no qualification blank. NCS assesses using personal history and a 'core competency' written test. After qualifying, there are two different types of interviews. One is the 'Situational Interview' which gives you a situation associated with work and asks you how you will deal with it. The other one is 'Experience Interview' which asks you about work you have done so far that could be linked to this job, and if you have any experience with it. Recently, use of the 'Situational Interview' has been increasing due to its efficiency and success at assessing one's self management ability. Anyway, not only public enterprises but also private companies are starting to use the NCS. Since finding a job is getting harder, our country has decided to make it a duty to follow this NCS that doesn't focus on your qualifications or personal history. Over 3,000 new recruits were hired by NCS last year, and over 15,000 new recruits are expected to be hired through this system in the future.

2. There are many different types of lecturers. Why did you choose to be an employment lecturer?

I didn't have any thoughts about becoming a lecturer. When I worked in Asiana Group 20 years ago, I wrote books about employment and then a lecture request came in. I started lecturing on employment and it gave me some profit. At that time, employment specialists were very rare but nowadays employment is hard, so we can see them more easily. As finding a job was getting more difficult and many students felt despair and were becoming more and more stressed, I tried to find my own ways to help them. So I decided to become an employment consultant to talk with students face to face. It was kind of hard since I had to provide the right answers to any situations that students might face (laugh).

3. According to some students, appearance and looks seem to be important in a job interview. Is it true that appearance is important enough to have plastic surgery?

Never! Of course, jobs like flight attendants need pretty faces but it is not always so. The enterprise highly regards profit so it looks for people who are helpful in creating more profit. Once I was on a subway train and saw an advertisement about plastic surgery with the phrase 'Good appearance is competitiveness!' I worried about young people spending a lot of money on plastic surgery instead of doing something better with their money. As I just said, plastic surgery won't help most of people. You just need to have a friendly and kind appearance that can comfort clients like service industry employees have. However, taking care of the way one looks with a decent appearance is still necessary.

4. If there are any qualifications students need to know, please suggest some of them.

I want them to gain more experiencein part-time work with jobs they want to have in the future. Enterprises especially prefer differentiated men who are different from other people. Furthermore, they like experienced, versatile, talented people. Therefore, any qualification that gives you additional points would be good. I recommend that Humanities students take one or two classes of National Sciences or Engineering, the ones you would be confident to take. As for Engineering or National Sciences students, enterprise prefers people who have good knowledge of humanities. Taking classes associated with history or literature will also be a good choice. Also, actively participate in seminars held by associations related to your major and try to receive certificates.

5. What was the hardest time during the preparation process of becoming a Recruiting expert and consultant?

If I wrote a book, it would already be out of date within a year. Employment screening keeps changing rapidly every year, and I have to keep updating for recent trends and information to include in my books. That is pretty hard work. Also, I am doing an employment broadcasting program and the camera is uncomfortable for me. It took a while to get used to it. (laugh).

6. You said having a role model is important, who's your role model?

My role model is Spencer Johnson who wrote, Who moved my cheese. This man changed many people's thoughts by writing his book using an easy story method. I began to get out of my own thinking and started thinking of various other ideas after reading this book. I think a person who has a role model changes to become like different people, like Lionel Messi had Diego Maradonna, and he became the world's best football player.

7. Do you have any advice to give not only to job applicants, but also to fellow Gachon University students?

I want to say five things. First, take trips as much as possible while you are still young. Things will start to get busier after you get hired. So while you have the time, go on a trip with your friends. Make good memories and learn about this world so that at the end, you will be more mature. Second, use social media actively to present yourself as a social person who can use social media well and is good at team work. You never know when an enterprise might have eyes on it. Third, read as many humanities books as possible. Not only can you improve your personality, creativity, and thinking skills; reading books is a good way to talk with people from the past or people who you meet. Fourth, talk with your father a lot. I hope you notice the experiences your father has gained during his life and learn from him. Lastly, date as many people as possible! Go out with many men or women without any regrets. I haven't seen anyone who is bad at working when they are good at dating. (laugh)

The lecturer responded to the interview humorously and led the reporters ably, like a veteran consultant. It is good to work hard to get certified but why don't you just put your pen down for a while and explore around and enjoy the privileges of your youth? It's fine even if you are at a loss. Think steadily about what you will do next and step forward. I wish for fellow Gachon students to plan their life efficiently based on this lecturer's experience.